Inking mechanism for printing-presses



c. w. SMITH; lNK-lNG MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16. L919- Patented Dec. 30,1919.

C. W. SMITH.

lNKlN-G MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

4 SHECTS-SHEET 3 APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16, 1919.

672457 560 Warn Wk.

C. W. SMITH.

INKING MECHANISM FOR PRINIING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 16. 1919.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES W. SMITH, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO KEYSTONETYPE FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OFPENNSYLVANIA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

Application filed June 16, 1919. Serial No. 304,379.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES W. SMITH, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inInking Mechanism for Printing-Presses, of which the following is aspecification.

One object of my invention is to provide improved inking mechanism forprinting presses, including a movable inking plate for conveying the inkto the form-inking rolls, and which will be operative to evenlydistribute the ink upon the inking plate.

Another object is to provide improved means which will prevent theapplication of ink to the inking plate when there is no impressionduring the operation of the press, such for example as when the operatordoes not insert a sheet of paper to be printed, and so that there willbe no accumulation of ink upon the inking plate which is not necessaryto form a proper impression.

A further object is to make the parts of my invention of a simple anddurable construction.

These objects, and other advantageous ends which will be describedhereinafter, I attain in the following manner, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings in which- Figure lis a side elevation of apart of a printing press, such for example as the printing press shownin my co-pending United States application, Serial Number 302,433, filedJune 7, 1919, illustrating my improved inking mechanism,

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of a part of the press shown in Fig.1, and illustrating my improved inking mechanism, said figure beingdrawn on an enlarged scale from that shown in Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation of one end of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary elevation of the opposite end of Fig. 2,

. Fig. 5 is a framentary plan view showing certain of the elements of mypresent in vention,

Fig. 6 is a section taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5,

Fig. 7 is a section taken on the line 77 of Fig. 5,.and

' Fig. 8 is a section taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. 6 showing, inaddition, a part of the supporting structure.

Referring to the drawings, 9 represents a cylinder to which sheets ofpaper are attached, said cylinder having an oscillatory movement forconveying sheets to the printing-form 10, said printing-form forming apart of a carriage 11, said carriage also including an inking plate 12adapted to engage, during a horizontal reciprocating movement of thecarriage, the form-rollers 13 which are mounted on the frame 14 insuitable adjustable supports 15. The parts above mentioned may be of anysuitable construction or design and do not by themselves form a part ofmy present invention.

The frame 14: includes at one end an ink fountain 16 in which isrotatably mounted a fountain roll 17. This fountain roll is posi tionedwithin the ink within the fountain 16. A shaft 18 is journaled withinthe frame 1 1 and has two arms 19 secured thereto. These arms at theirouter ends form a rotatable support for av duct roll 20. The shaft 18has a lever 21 secured thereto, said lever being connected by a link 22with any suitable means for imparting a rocking movement to the shaft18, said means being illustrated as-a cam 23 secured to a rotatableshaft said cam being operative on a roller 25 on the link 22. The link22 has a forked end 92 embracing and being supported by the shaft 24-.The cam 23 acts to move the link 22 through the medium of the roller 25when the plate 12 moves thereunder during the reciprocation of thecarriage 11 and after the arms 19 have been raised by the cam 23.

The framel l has adjustable supports 26 thereon and these supports formbearings for the shafts 27 28 and 29 of ink distributing rolls 30, 31and 32, said rolls being arranged in a row as clearly illustrated, andserving in a manner hereinafter described to evenly distribute the inkwhich has been applied by the duct roll 20, over the upper surface ofthe inking plate 12. All of the rolls 30, 31 and 32 are adapted torotate due to the engagement of said'inking plate, and the rolls 80 and32 also have a longitudinal movement imparted to them so as to spreadthe ink over the width of the inking plate 12, said longitudinalmovement being imparted by the elements now to be described.

A bracket 33 is secured to the frame 1% and provides a pivot for a lever81'. The lever 3-1- has two trunnions and 36 at its opposite ends, saidtrunnions being disposed at opposite sides of the pivotal axis of thelever 23%, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 5. The carriage 11 has anangular cam portion 37 which is adapted to engage a: roller 38 on oneend of the lever A rod 39 has a spring thereon which is backed againstthe frame 1 1, said spring serving to move the roller 38 into the pathof movement of the cam 87, and it will be readily understood that duringthe reciprocation of the carriage 11, the cam 37 will swing the lever34- in one direction and when the roller 38 is released from the cam 37,for example when the carriage 11 moves in an opposite direction, thespring 10 will swing the lever in a direction opposite to the in vementimparted to said lever 81; by the cam 37. The trunnions 35 and 36 areinterposed between the flanges 11 and 12 of collars 43 and respectivelyon the rolls 30 and It will thus be noted that the above describedswinging movement of the lever 34.: will impart a longitudinalreciproating movement to the rolls .30 and 32 so as to distribute theink in the direction of the width of the inking plate 12. Further more,the rolls 30 and 32 will be moved in opposite directions at the sametime, for example when the roll 30 is moving toward the right, as viewedfrom Fig. 2, the roll 32 will be moved toward the left, and alternately,when the roll 30 is moved toward the left the roll will be moved towardthe right By this arrangement the ink rill be moved simultaneouslytoward opposite side edges of the inking plate and the central roll 81will merely rotate. In this manner, the ink is distributed evenly overall portionsoi the inking plate so that when the plate moves intoengagen'ient with the form-rolls 13, the latter will receive inktherefrom, and the ink will be evenly spread over the surface of theform-rolls to be applied to the form as it passes thereunder on its wayto impart an ii'npression to the paper upon the cylinder 9.

For the purpose of preventing the application of ink to the inking plate12, if the operator for any purpose whatever fails to feed paper to thecylinder 9, I provide aswinging detent or stop 15 on the shaft 16 of thefountain roll 17. This detent 15 is weighted at 17 at its bottom belowthe shaft e6 so that normally it will swing its top end 18 into the pathof the arms 19 during; their downward movement so as to stop the fallinmovement of the arms 19 before the duct roll 20 has had a chance toengage the fountain roll 17 and thereby pre ventthe duct roll 20 fromreceiving ink from the fountain roll. In this manner the inking plate 12is prevented, from receiving an excess amount of ink and the impressionor printing will be uniform on all the sheets printed. During the normaloperation of the machine, however, the detent is swung out of the pathof movement of the arms 19 by the hooked end -19 of a link 50, saidhooked end being adapted to engage a pin 4-9 on the bottom of the detent-15, this action being clearly illustrated as starting to take place inFig. 4-. The link is pivotally connected to an arm 51 which is attachedto a plate 52. A number of finare secured to a rock-shaft 54, saidrockshaft having an arm 55 thereon, the arm being provided with a pin 56adapted to be engaged by the cam The cam 57 is adapted to be rocked by alink lever 58 to ause said fingers 53 to be moved into and out ofrecesses 59 in a feed table 60. The shaft 5 1- has a screw threaded post61 thereon adapted to engage a plate 62, said plate being secured to apawl 63. The plate 52 has a small cam 61- thereon which provides ashoulder 65 for engagement with the pawl 63, said pawl being pivotallymounted on a fixed shaft 66 and serving to prevent the movement of saidplate and the arm 51.

During the normal operation of the press, when the operator inserts thesheets between the fingers and the recesses 59, the fingers will beprevented from entering the recesses 59 and the pawl 63 will be held upout of engagement with the shoulder 65 so that t isplate 52 and arm willreceive a swinging movement and thereby cause the hooked end of the link50 to swing the detent -15 out of he path. of the arms 19 and permit theduct roll 20 to engage the fountain roll, to suppl the necessary amountof ink to the inking plate 12 to permit the proper impression to bemade. However, if the operator fails to insert a sheet between thefingers 53 and the recesses 59, the fingers will move into the recesses59, which movement will permit the pawl 63 to fall behind the shoulder65 so that the plate 52, arm 51 and link 50 will be prevented fron'imoving, and the detent 45 will swin by gravity into a position so as toprevent the arms 19 from dropping and thereby serving to prevent theduct roll 20 from engaging the fountain roll 17. In this manner noexcess ink will be supplied to the inking plate 12 when there is nosheet to be printed. This action prevents the accumulation of ink uponthe printing-form so that all impressions are similar.

It will be understood. that while I have described specific means forcausing the link to be moved during the normal operation of the pressand permitted to remain inoperative when no sheet is fed to the press,that any suitable means can be employed for moving or not moving thelink 50 as above described.

While I have described my invention as taking a particular form, it willbe understood that the various parts of my invention may be changedwithout departing from the spirit thereof, and hence I do not limitmyself to the precise construction set forth, but consider that I am atliberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly come within thescope of the appended claims.

Havin hus described my invention what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination of a movable inking plate; ink distributing rolls forengagement with said plate; a swinging lever pivoted between its ends;trunnions on said lever at opposite sides of the pivot, said rollshaving portions which said trunnions respectively engage; a roller onsaid swinging lever; a cam movable in conjunction with said plate andfor engagement with said roller to swing the lever in one direction; anda spring for swinging said lever in the opposite direction when said cammoves away from said roller; substantially as described.

2. The combination in a printing press of a movable inking plate; an inkfountain roll; a duct roll; means for moving said duct roll. intoengagement with said fountain roll to secure ink therefrom and formoving said duct roll into the path of said plate to apply said inkthereto; a pivoted detent adapted to swing into the path of move ment ofthe duct-roll-moving means at each cycle of operation of the press;means operative during the printing action of the a press to swing saiddetent out of the path of said duct ro-ll moving means; and means forrendering inoperative said detent moving means at other times to causethe latter to form a stop for said duct roll moving means to preventsaid duct roll from engaging said fountain roll; substantially asdescribed.

3. The combination in a printing press of a movable inking plate; an inkfountain roll; a duct roll; means for moving said duct roll intoengagement with said fountain roll to secure ink therefrom and for moving said duct roll into the path of said plate to apply said inkthereto; a pivoted detent; a hooked member; means for moving said hookedmember into engagement with said detent to move said detent out of thepath of said duct roll moving means during each printing, action of saidpress; and means for rendering inoperative said hooked member at othertimes, whereby said detent forms a stop for the duct roll moving meansto prevent said duct roll from engaging said fountain roll;substantially as de scribed.

i. The combination with a printing press embodying an ink fountain andduct roll,

of a detent normally holding the duct roll out of engagement with theink fountain; a member adapted when actuated to move the detent at eachcycle of operation of the press; and means controlled by a sheet ofpaper in feeding position on the press to actuate said member.

5. The combination with a printing press embodying an ink fountain and aform; of means to convey ink from the fountain to the form; meansnormally withholding such conveyor from action, and means controlledfrom sheet in feeding position on the press to withdraw the holdingmeans.

6. The combination with a printing press embodying an ink fountain aform and a duct roll; a means to swing the duct roll upon a pivot intoengagement with the ink fountain at one limit of its movement; meansnormally withholding such duct roll from engagement with the inkfountain; and means controlled from a sheet in feeding position on thepress to withdraw the holding means.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES WV. SMITH.

Witnesses:

ANNA BENTON, CHAs. E. Po'r'rs.

